Developments in mobile technology have brought increasingly sophisticated mobile devices to the consumer market. Smartphones—portable cellular phones with robust computing capabilities and a variety of functionalities beyond simple telephone tasks—are quickly becoming ubiquitous. Various smartphones, such as the Apple iPhone® and devices running Google's Android platform, enable the user to run various applications (or “apps”) which make use of the smartphone's various input and output devices, including the phone's camera, microphone, speaker, and touch screen.
Various peripherals have also been designed which interact with and add functionality to the smartphone to which they are connected. For instance, a variety of docks are presently available which allow the user to output sound or music from a smartphone to an external speaker. Though effective, such peripherals generally utilize connectors such as the Iphone®'s 30-pin connector, in order to create and maintain a data connection. Designing and manufacturing peripherals which utilize these connectors entails significant costs, both from an engineering and licensing standpoint.
Such costs can be an impediment to bringing smartphone capabilities and functionality to low priced or low margin items such as toys. However, there are toys that could benefit from integration with smartphones, as the present inventors have recognized.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the disclosure made herein is presented.